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URL: https://willitrunai.com/can-run/hf-jamesburton--phi-4-reasoning-vision-15b-gguf-on-m2-ultra-128gb

⇱ Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B on Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB? YES


Can Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B run on Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB?

YES — Runs Great

C46Usable
Estimated from fit model

Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B needs ~25.6 GB VRAM. Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB has 92.2 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~51 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: HighStack: StandardBottleneck: Balanced
Share:

Operating mode

Choose the run profile you care about

Interactive favors responsiveness, while light API and scale-out lean harder on serving readiness. The fit stays the same, but the recommendation lens changes.

Current mode

Balanced

Balanced for general local use. Keeps the ranking neutral across personal and serving workflows.

Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 25.6 GB, 50.7 tok/s, Runs well
25.6 GB required92.2 GB available
28% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

50.7 tok/s

TTFT

3818 ms

Safe context

622K

Memory

25.6 GB / 92.2 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights9.2 GB
KV Cache1.8 GB
Runtime0.9 GB
Headroom13.8 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsPhi 4 reasoning vision 15B on Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>Solve: If a train travels at 60 mph for 2.5 hours, how far does it go?
Let me work through this step by step. Given information: - Speed = 60 mph (miles per hour) - Time = 2.5 hours Formula: Distance = Speed x Time Calculation: Distance = 60 mph x 2.5 h = 150 miles The train travels 150 miles. Double-check: at 60 mph the train covers 60 miles each hour. In half an hour it covers 30 miles. So in 2.5 hours: 60 + 60 + 30 = 150 miles. Confirmed.
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>What if the train stops for 20 minutes halfway?
The stop doesn't change the total distance covered while moving, but it affects total trip time. Breakdown: - First half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles - Stop: 20 minutes (no distance) - Second half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles Total distance: 150 miles (same) Total time: 2.5 h + 0.33 h = 2.83 hours Average speed: 150 / 2.83 = 53 mph The distance stays the same but average speed drops to 53 mph because of the stop.
Estimated: 50.7 tok/s decode · 3.8s TTFT (warm) · 127 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

This setup is broadly balanced for this model.

Shared-memory contention still exists

The OS, browser, and inference runtime all compete for the same physical memory pool, so real-world headroom is less forgiving than raw capacity suggests.

Best improvement path

Performance by workload

WorkloadGradeFitDecodeTTFTContext
ChatCRuns well50.7 tok/s2082 ms622K
CodingCRuns well50.7 tok/s3818 ms622K
Agentic CodingCRuns well50.7 tok/s5553 ms622K
ReasoningCRuns well50.7 tok/s4512 ms622K
RAGCRuns well50.7 tok/s6941 ms622K

Quantization options

How Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B (15B params) fits at each quantization level on Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB (92.2 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_K
2
5.9 GB
LowD39
Q3_K_S
3
7.4 GB
LowD39
NVFP4
4
8.4 GB
MediumD39
Q4_K_M
4
9.2 GB
MediumD39
Q5_K_M
5
10.8 GB
HighD40
Q6_K
6
12.3 GB
HighD40
Q8_0
8
16.1 GB
Very HighC40
F16Best for your GPU
16
30.7 GB
MaximumC42

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B on your machine.

Run

lms load hf-jamesburton--phi-4-reasoning-vision-15b-gguf && lms server start

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B well

👁 NVIDIA
RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Workstation Edition 96GBBudget pick
1792 GB/s (+992)
C
Raises estimated decode speed by about 224%.164.5 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 224%.

~$9,999 MSRP

👁 NVIDIA
RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition 96GBBest value
1597 GB/s (+797)
C
Raises estimated decode speed by about 189%.146.6 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 189%.

~$9,999 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

See all results for Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GBSee all hardware for Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B